Some artifacts
Terracotta figurines
Double-series clay pot
Cizhou kiln white brown color jar
Peacock blue glazed plate
Grey Torix brick carving
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage recently held a regular press conference, and Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, introduced the relevant situation of 68 lost British cultural relics and successfully recovered back to China. A Chinese story that has been told for 25 years of transnational cultural relics recovery finally has a happy ending.
1 There are still regrets
The story began 25 years ago.
In February 1995, the British police informed our embassy in the UK that suspected Chinese cultural relics had been found in the process of cracking an international cultural relics crime, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage preliminarily identified them as cultural relics that I had banned from exporting.
In March of that year, British police carried out "Operation Water Candle" to intercept a large number of cultural relics transported to the United Kingdom by the suspects. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage sent personnel to the UK for identification and confirmed that it was smuggling Chinese cultural relics. Under the unified deployment of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the former Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Relics Bureau, etc. jointly formed the "Working Group for The Pursuit of British Police to Seize and Smuggle Chinese Cultural Relics" to pursue through law enforcement cooperation, civil litigation, consultation and negotiation.
In February 1998, under pressure from the Chinese side, the two main suspects in the case signed an agreement on the return of cultural relics with the State Administration of Cultural Relics; in May, more than 3,400 returned cultural relics were shipped back to Beijing, which is the largest case of recovery of lost cultural relics in China so far; in August, another suspect in the case reached a settlement with the State Administration of Cultural Relics and returned seven cultural relics.
Li Ji, the 68-year-old former executive vice president of the Palace Museum, still remembers the moment he walked into the warehouse 25 years ago, "really shocked by the number, and the ground was crowded with cultural relics." In that year, as the director of the Social Relics Management Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, he was ordered to go to London, England, together with Zhang Jincai, a Beijing cultural relics expert, to identify cultural relics. Li Ji admitted that when he did the appraisal, he was upset. More than 3,000 cultural relics, "enough to build a museum." The cultural relics involved a particularly large span of age, from paleontological fossils to Paleolithic and Neolithic, dynasties and dynasties, all the way to the Ming and Qing dynasties. "Even the Qing Dynasty stone tablets and stele were transported intact." Li Ji recalled.
However, because one of the purchasers of the cultural relics in the case refused to participate in the negotiation negotiations, the 68 cultural relics involved in the case could only be seized by the British police. And the story of the return of this cultural relic also leaves regrets.
2 Perseverance Happy ending
However, this is not the end of the story, but "and listen to the next breakdown". The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has never given up the pursuit, maintained contact with our embassy in britain and the British police, and paid attention to the progress for a long time.
In January 2020, the Metropolitan Police in London contacted our embassy in the UK to inform them that the cultural relics involved in the case had been defined as unowned because the buyer's whereabouts were unknown and the seizure time had exceeded the prosecution period, and offered to return the cultural relics to the Chinese government. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage immediately restarted the recourse mechanism and issued a letter of recourse to the British side, formally requesting return on behalf of the Chinese government.
On July 29, Yu Peng, Minister Counsellor of our Embassy in the UK, led a team to the British warehouse to count the scene, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage finally determined that a total of 68 cultural relics were recovered, and the British police agreed to return them all.
Here's the problem again – the global COVID-19 pandemic is grim! The State Administration of Cultural Heritage, in close consultation with our embassy in the UK, comprehensively studied and judged the epidemic situation and cargo flight situation in the UK, and decided to adopt the method of "entrusting the embassy to receive and domestic point delivery and verification" to promote the overall plan. Deng Chao, deputy director of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and director of the Office of Cultural Relics Return, revealed some of the details.
On 1 September, the collection was granted permission to leave the country by the Arts Council of England. On October 16, with the authorization of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Yu Guo, first secretary of our Embassy in the UK, represented the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the British Metropolitan Police Sophie? Detective Sophie Hayes handed over the cultural relics at the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in the Uk and signed a confirmation of the receipt of the cultural relics, and the ownership of the cultural relics was officially transferred to the Chinese government.
Deng Chao specifically mentioned that 25 years ago, the British police informed the Chinese side of the smuggling of cultural relics, which was also in the Cultural Department of the Chinese Embassy in the UK; and 25 years ago, the person who was responsible for docking with the British police on behalf of the Embassy was now leading the team to the British warehouse site to carry out the inventory work. In this sense, the Chinese government has persevered and worked hard to recover illegally lost cultural relics, which has been condensed in 25 years.
On the morning of October 19, Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, held an online ceremony for the return and handover of cultural relics; on the same night, our Embassy in the UK escorted the cultural relics to London Heathrow International Airport, and the cultural relics were transported back to China.
On the afternoon of October 20, the cultural relics arrived safely at Beijing Capital International Airport on Air China Flight CA938. Beijing Customs facilitates customs clearance. The State Administration of Cultural Relics organized the Three directly subordinate units of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, the Beijing Lu Xun Museum, and the China Cultural Relics Information Consultation Center to divide labor and cooperate to complete the inspection of cultural relics overnight and hand them over to the warehouse.
3 China experience Cloud sharing
The artifacts returned home, but this is still not the final outcome.
On the 21st, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage organized experts to carry out physical appraisal, and determined that among the cultural relics in this batch, 13 second-level cultural relics in 3 groups, 30 third-level cultural relics, and 25 general cultural relics, the texture includes porcelain, pottery, stoneware, bronze, etc., the time span from the Spring and Autumn Warring States to the Qing Dynasty, geographical distribution in Jiangxi, Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Guizhou, etc.
According to Deng Chao, from the overall point of view, this batch of 68 cultural relics is relatively rich in type, good in appearance, more fine products, and has important historical, artistic and scientific value.
Comparing the pictures, Deng Chao introduced several of them. Tang Sancai seven star disk, 1 set of 8 pieces, composed of a bearing plate, 6 small cups and 1 large cup, the outer wall of the plate and the cup body are glazed with yellow, green, white and other glazes, the glaze color is bright, the seven star disc is a reproduction of the real life of the Tang Dynasty, and also reflects the superb level of the Tang Dynasty pottery making process; 1 stone carving horse of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, compared with the similar stone carving products excavated from the Tomb of Bozhou Tusi in Zunyi, Guizhou, and similar excavation glazed pottery from the Tomb of the King of Shu in Chengdu, experts believe that it is a stone carving product of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties unearthed in the southwest region; the number of blue and white porcelain in the Song Dynasty in porcelain is larger, From the comprehensive point of view of modeling, glaze color, firing process, etc., the production kilns of this batch of blue and white porcelain have Jiangxi Jingdezhen kiln, Jinxi kiln, Anhui Fanchang kiln, etc., reflecting the popularization and dissemination of the production technology of qingbai porcelain in the Song Dynasty, but also reflecting the social and economic development and commercial prosperity at that time; 4 pieces of plum bottles and lids, from the perspective of tire glaze and craftsmanship, have great consistency, may come from the same tomb, extremely rare, and now classify them as group cultural relics; 3 small lead glaze music and dance figurines, red tires, lead glaze, relatively complete, residual glaze, It can reflect the input and development of low-temperature lead glaze technology in the Han Dynasty, as well as the content of music and dance in the Han Dynasty, which is rare in previous archaeological excavations, especially the complete set of glazed pottery dance figurines is more rare.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of UNESCO's Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (hereinafter referred to as the "1970 Convention"), unesco organized commemorative activities through online meetings. The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has set up a special webpage on the official website to display the cultural relics and recourse process of the repatriation of the country online, present the "debut" of the return of cultural relics to the general public, and also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Convention and share the "Chinese story" of the recovery and return of cultural relics with the international community. Deng Chao said that more than 100 high-definition, watermark-free pictures have been released on the Internet, and the public is welcome to enjoy, download, and use them for public welfare.
4 Long-term work is not finished
In response to a reporter's question, Guan Qiang said that the recovery of lost cultural relics not only involves extremely complex legal problems, but also often involves national feelings and international relations, which is a systematic project that requires the unremitting efforts of generations of people and is recognized as a worldwide problem. More than 20 years ago, the recovery and return of more than 3,000 cultural relics has undergone a difficult and tortuous process, and an important reason is that the United Kingdom has not yet acceded to the "1970 Convention" at that time, and lacks a common legal basis for intergovernmental return. From a more far-reaching historical perspective, after 25 years of unremitting efforts, all the lost cultural relics have finally returned smoothly, which has important case value and international significance.
Guan Qiang introduced that for more than 20 years, the Chinese government has continuously improved the ability to protect cultural relics and recover lost cultural relics, signed bilateral agreements with 23 countries on the recovery and return of lost cultural relics, established an international cooperation mechanism with Chinese characteristics, led the formulation of the "Dunhuang Declaration on the Protection and Return of Illegally Exported Stolen Cultural Property" that reflects the demands of the countries that have lost cultural relics, insisted on calling for the return of historically lost cultural relics to the country of origin, and contributed Chinese solutions, Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to reform and improve the international order for the return of cultural relics.
The reporter checked the information and learned that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period alone, 1242 Pieces of Chinese cultural relics and artworks returned home by intergovernmental recovery and cooperation (including 68 pieces this time), of which, in 2016, the Canadian government returned a pair of 19th century building wooden components; in 2017, the Egyptian government returned 13 pieces of money tickets and other cultural relics seized by its customs; in 2019, the US government returned 361 sets of lost cultural relics; in 2019, the Italian government returned 796 lost cultural relics; in 2019, The Turkish government returned pottery figurines and reliefs.
The smooth return of 68 lost cultural relics in China has drawn a satisfactory end to the Chinese government's 25-year uninterrupted transnational action of smuggling cultural relics. The transnational action of cultural relics recovery has not stopped. On the day of the press conference, Egypt handed over to china 31 ancient Chinese coins seized in Ethiopia.
The story of the return of cultural relics, to be continued...
(Beijing, November 19, this newspaper reporter Li Yun)
The pictures in this article are all provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and taken by Luo Zheng of the Capital Museum
Source: Guangming Daily